Small Details
by Cynder2013
Summary: I have a feeling that the nice couple in the grey cloaks aren't here to sign their kid up for ballet lessons. Sequel to "Dark Magicks", AU, OC-centric.


It's immediately obvious that the wards have been triggered. There aren't any alarms; that would make the normal students in my classes worry. There's just an electric feeling in the air that those of us with a link to magic can sense. In this case, in my intermediate level ballet class, that would be a newly-called Slayer, a trainee Guardian on Hellmouth rotation, a half-Brachen demon girl, and me. The Guardian, a boy named James, and the Brachen look alarmed. Ileana, the Slayer, immediately looks for something to hit.

I have just been knocked over by an overenthusiastic pirouette, so I have an excuse to call for a water break. While my students are milling around, stretching and digging through their bags for their water bottles, I limp to my office to check the crystal ball on my desk that's tied to the wards.

And I'm not faking the limp. Ileana is the one who knocked me over. New Slayers never know their own strength.

Looking into my crystal ball (and why we couldn't tie the wards to a compact mirror or something else that's actually portable is something I will never understand) shows me an image that isn't unexpected but is still going to be a pain in the butt to deal with. Two people are walking down the hall towards the studio. They're under some sort of camouflage spell judging by how they keep blurring around the edges, but Willow's put enough magic into the wards to let me get a good look at them. I don't recognize their faces, one's a tanned, dark-haired man with sharp features and the other is a grey-haired woman who looks at least three times the man's age, but their clothing makes the important part of their identities obvious.

The greycloaks are coming, the greycloaks are coming.

Ileana pokes her head into my office. "What is happening?" James is hovering behind her, looking worried. He's only been in Cleveland for a month and it's March so nothing much has happened. We're in the lull that's the transition/prep time between the regular year and apocalypse season, and it's looking like the apocalypse won't even be in Cleveland this year. The real action is happening on a baby Hellmouth in Italy that's right next to an active volcano. The Scoobies are keeping a very close eye on that.

"Nothing you have to worry about right now," I say. "James, give the school a call and let them know we're dealing with a Code Travers. Faith and Robin will know what I'm talking about."

A Code Travers means that there's a stuffy organization like the old Watchers Council moving in on our turf. In this case, the White Council totally qualifies.

"Yes, ma'am," James says before coming into my office and picking up the phone.

"And keep an eye on the crystal ball while you're here," I add. James nods.

"What about me?" Ileana asks.

"Make sure the other students get out safely," I tell her. "Be careful, these are humans with magic."

Ileana's eyes widen. "Witches?"

I shake my head. "Wizards. We haven't covered them in class yet." Maybe I should petition for them to be moved up in the curriculum. Red Court vampires got moved up in Monsters 101 after the war between them and the White Council started, why shouldn't wizards be covered earlier in Magic 101?

I go back into the studio to finish up the ballet class, but before I end the water break I take out my cell phone and send a text to Robin Wood, the senior Watcher and principal at the Kendra Young School for the Gifted, aka Hellmouth High. I won't be able to get any messages out if the Wardens start throwing magic around, so it's best to warn him now even though I don't have all the information. I make my best guess though: ptpb tvrs mpbkt. Past problem, Code Travers, mop and bucket. Taken together that means that something from my past has caught up with me, I'm dealing with a stuffy organization on par with the old Watchers Council, and I may need help with clean-up. It's kind of concerning how often those three codes get used in some combination. Robin was the one who texted 'ptpb mpbkt' last time and that ended in us scrubbing a lot of slime out of clothing and me going on a date (long story).

The class ends without incident. Ileana leads the other students out with James lagging behind to cover her back. As they leave, he tries to whisper to me without anyone else noticing, but makes it obvious that he's trying to say something without anyone noticing. Well, he tried.

"They're in here," he says.

I nod. "Thank you."

James hesitates before following the stragglers out the door. I close the door behind him and turn to face the rest of the room. The wall of mirrors opposite me must be giving the Wardens heart attacks. All kinds of things can come through mirrors, unless they've been specifically spelled to be one way only, like these ones have. They're my way out if things really go south, but I'm hoping it won't come to that.

Who am I kidding? It's Tuesday.

I put my hands on my hips. "I know you're here. Make with the visible so we can talk like civilized mostly-human beings."

A second passes. Then the two Wardens drop whatever camouflage magic they're using and appear a few feet away, right by the mirrors. The woman has a sword under her cloak. The man has a sword and a lump on his other hip that must be a gun. He's also wearing a gauntlet that's practically glowing with magic. All I've got are a stake, a cross, and a knife, plus the home turf advantage. We're about evenly matched.

"Lauren Madison?" the woman asks.

"Who's asking?" I know better than to give a wizard my name. Sure, she said it, not me, but if I confirm it the end results are pretty much the same.

The woman purses her lips. "Captain Luccio," she says carefully. She's probably mispronouncing her name so I can't use it against her, not that I could do much with just a family name, even if I was a wizard. She nods towards the man. "This is Warden Ramirez."

Well, that's interesting. What's Captain Anastasia Luccio doing putting her boots on the ground in Cleveland when her power could be better put to use in cities that the Reds actually have a foothold in? My best guess for what's going on is looking a lot more likely.

"I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you, but that would be a lie." I smile. "So, what's the occasion? It's not my birthday."

One of my ex-boyfriends actually did get me arrested for my birthday, back in Sunnydale. One of my ex-girlfriends tried to get me murdered. These Wardens could be going for either.

Luccio and Ramirez look at each other. I have I feeling they came here expecting something more like Darth Willow and less like, well, me.

"We're here to arrest you for breaking the laws of magic," Ramirez says.

"Which ones?" I ask.

Ramirez blinks. "The first, fifth, and sixth."

That would be murder, necromancy, and screwing with time, if I'm remembering right. Pretty sure I've broken more laws of magic than just those three, but I'm not going to correct him. Besides, it's not like it actually matters.

I cross my arms, giving myself better access to the dagger strapped to the underside of my left forearm, just in case. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that would mean that I killed someone with magic, raised the dead, and travelled through time?"

Ramirez shrugs. "Something like that. Are you going to come quietly?"

I look at Luccio. "What do you think, Captain?"

Luccio draws her sword. "She's got something up her sleeve."

Well, I literally have a weapon up my sleeve, but I don't think that's what Luccio means.

"Let me give you guys some information you might be missing, considering you were dealing with the war with the Red Court and covering up L.A. getting transported to hell at the time." I ignore the choking sound Ramirez makes and continue. "I didn't get a chance to break those laws. Some friends stopped me."

It isn't a total lie. I didn't break the first, fifth, and sixth laws on a large scale. I meant to, but the Scoobies stopped me before I could. I did do a few test runs though, and let's just say there are a few people running around alive who should have been dead, and more people dead who could have still been alive. I try not to think about it. That may seem cold, but if I do think about it for too long I'm pretty sure I'll try to end the world. I like the world, most days, and I rather not be responsible for ending it.

So I've got hang-ups. Sue me. I know a good lawyer.

"And even if I did, you can't do anything about it," I say. "I'm on the Devon Coven's roster."

I wait for them to figure it out. They didn't become Wardens by being stupid.

Luccio figures it out first. "You're a witch."

I do my best not to grin. Let's not provoke the nice people with magic, swords, and a gun. I'm not Xander, I have some self-preservation. "Got it in one, Captain."

Luccio sighs and sheathes her sword. Ramirez looks at her with confusion. "She's not our problem," Luccio explains. "We can give the Covens a call and that's it."

There are nineteen major witches covens in the world, signed onto the Unseelie Accords as the creatively named Nineteen Covens. It's their job to govern witches and they're a lot more with the rehabilitation and forgiveness than the chopping kids' heads off. I've gotten the forgiveness, and the rehab is...starting to work. Giles wouldn't have let me have my studio if it wasn't, even though he thinks I should be further along considering that it's been almost three years. He's one to talk. I've seen his Ripper side.

"But what about—" Ramirez says. Luccio cuts him off with a glare. Now that is interesting.

"What about what?" I ask. "I won't tell anyone except in case of world-endage." I tack on the smile that always gets me out of doing dishes when someone's broken the dishwasher again.

Ramirez breaks. "One of the new Wardens soulgazed you and thought you'd be good to have on our side against the Reds." The look that Luccio shoots at him makes it clear that he just earned whatever the Warden equivalent is of watching _Star Wars _with Andrew.

It doesn't take me long to figure out who told them about me. I haven't soulgazed anyone for almost a year and my entire list of soulgazees is pretty short anyway. "That traitorous, rat-faced, bastard!"

Ramirez jumps. Luccio manages to look only mildly interested.

Hector Dumont, Andrew's ex-boyfriend, wizard. He's the last person I soulgazed, before he up and left in the middle of last year's apocalypse, the one where I almost got sacrificed to a demon god with the usual goals of doom and destruction. So much for being righteous. Bastard. And Andrew was a mess after he left. Andrew isn't my favourite person and he's the geekiest geek that ever geeked, but he's our geek. If I ever see Hector again I'm using my sister's rat spell on him.

"So, Hector said 'ooo, look at the shiny wizard in Cleveland' and you two decided to stop by and blackmail me?" I shake my head. "I'd be more impressed if you'd done your research first."

Luccio scowls. Guess she doesn't like being told she did something wrong. "We already knew you didn't break any laws. We need Wardens. The war is...not going well."

I smirk. "Hench the blackmail. Sorry Captain, but I've already got a job." I hold up a hand to stop her and Ramirez from responding. "If I get out my wallet are you gonna shoot me?"

Ramirez shakes his head. Luccio says they won't. Despite that, they tense as I reach into the inside pocket of my jacket that isn't holding a cross. I take one of my Slayers, Guardians and Watchers Council business cards out of my wallet and hold it out for one of the Wardens to take. Luccio cautiously steps forward and plucks it from my hand. Her eyebrows creep towards her hairline as she reads it.

"If you need help, like really badly, the world might end if you fail need help, call us," I say. "At that point, it's our job. And if you want to send a Red Court minion or two our way, call us. The girls could use the practice." Last time we killed a Red Court vampire on patrol, a few of the Slayers got too close and, well, narcotic saliva works on Slayers too. It could have gotten bad, and as a rule we try to avoid bad.

Luccio nods and tucks my business card into a pocket before Ramirez can get a look at it, which I'm sure is on purpose. "I'll keep that in mind...Guardian."

Yeah, the Scoobies let me put 'Guardian' on my card. Don't tell them, but I'm proud of that.

Luccio says a polite goodbye and Ramirez manages a "Stay out of trouble" through his confusion. He smiles too. He's kind of cute.

I move away from the door so the Wardens can leave, and then go back to my office to check the crystal ball. I don't let my knife out of easy reach until I see them walk out the front door and disappear down the street.

I pick up the phone and call Robin's cell. He picks up after the second ring.

"Lauren, you okay?" Robin asks.

"I'm great." I lean against my desk and give him a smile that he can't see. "No blood and no slime."

Robin sounds amused. "I can call off the clean-up crew then?"

"Yup. And I think this means you owe me and Faith twenty bucks, each."

Robin grumbles. He bet that there would be blood and/or slime to clean up next time someone sent out a ptpb.

I faintly hear Faith asking, "Who're you talking to?"

"Lauren," Robin says. There's some murmuring and then he tells me that Faith is going to come pick me up. "Things in Catania are getting worse. Giles wants any witches who are free there to stop Mount Etna from erupting, and Buffy wants Faith to help fight."

"I'll grab my go bag," I say. I'll have to prep a transport spell too. If Giles and Buffy are calling we'll need to get there fast.

I hang up after a quick goodbye. My go bag is in the cupboard behind my desk, and the transport spell I use just needs me to burn a few herbs and pass the knife I'm going to use to cut through the fabric of reality through the smoke. I've still got time after I'm done.

I pick up the phone and dial another number.

"Hi, Dad. Guess who tried to blackmail me today?"

* * *

A/n: So, I actually have a timeline for these fics now. This one takes place four years after Sunnydale collapses, the March after the events of _Dead Beat. _Harry is a Warden with the shadow of a fallen angel in his head and Lauren is still twenty-two (her birthday is in July).

-Cynder2013


End file.
